Archive for the ‘Ehrlich’ Category

Still waiting for final results to be posed by the Howard County Board of Elections, but there are some additional numbers in that allow a rough comparison of voter participation in the 2006 election compared to past elections.

Bob Ehrlich’s initial comments to WBAL after the election seems to indicate that he may have written off his chances for any political comeback in Maryland, but I have not. Governor Ehrlich is only 49, and has plenty of time to revive his career. I have identified four races that Ehrlich might consider in 2010. At least two of these races could be influenced by whether or not Barbara Mikulski decides to seek re-election.

GOVERNOR – Right now this seems foolhardy, but a lot of things can happen in 4 years (as we well know). If, as I suspect, taxes and spending skyrocket, and/or if O’Malley stops construction of the ICC, enough voters might be persuaded that two-party government is a pretty good idea after all. In addition, maybe O’Malley doesn’t run for re-election.

COMPTROLLER – William Donald Schaefer showed how this office can be a bully pulpit and gives the office holder a powerful voice in State government. Presumably, Ehrlich would be facing incumbent Peter Franchot. Again, the viability of such a campaign could depend on Maryland’s fiscal situation in 2010.

U.S. SENATE – Barbara Mikulski will be 74 years old in 2010. Although that’s fairly elderly for a lot of people, it’s still middle-aged among Senators. Her decision on whether or not to run again will affect the governor’s race as well. If Mikulski decides not to run, O’Malley might be tempted to go for this race instead of seeking re-election as governor. Open Senate seats occur too rarely in Maryland, only every 20 years or so, and O’Malley might see Mikulski’s retirement as his prime opportunity for the U.S. Senate. In addition, there might be a lot of pressure on O’Malley to run for Senate to clear the way for Lt. Gov. Brown to run for governor. Lt. Gov. Brown might also be interested in the Senate seat himself, as might Lt. Gov. Steele.

BALTIMORE COUNTY EXECUTIVE – Jim Smith will be term-limited and so this would be an open seat in 2010. It remains to be seen whether Ehrlich would be willing to run for a local office, which would be seen as a demotion, but it could be the easiest way of reviving his political career. Of the four offices, this is probably the most winnable for Ehrlich in 2010. Assuming that he was elected in 2010, he could run for Senate in 2012 (against, presumably, Ben Cardin running for re-election) without risking his seat. If he was re-elected in 2014, he could take a shot at Senate in 2016 (for an open seat or against 80-year old Barbara Mikulski). Again, Michael Steele could also factor in any of Ehrlich’s future Senate plans.

What a simple way of boosting your school system’s performance? How about lower the standards for passing. From The Baltimore Sun.

Mayor Martin O’Malley rallied Tuesday to the defense of city school board members who lowered the passing grade for key subjects taught in Baltimore’s schools, but the move drew criticism from several City Council members and a spokesman for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.During an appearance at an East Baltimore middle school, O’Malley said lowering the minimum passing grade from 70 to 60 changed the grading scale, but it did not lower standards.

So according to Martin O’Malley, lowering the grade for passing from 70% to 60% is somehow “not lowering the standards”. I see…. read more

BALTIMORE – Campaign staff for Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich and his Democratic challenger, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley, were puzzled Friday by a recent poll showing Ehrlich and O’Malley tied in the race for governor.

Ehrlich at 56% approval rating (hard to beat a sitting Gov. with ratings like that) but only 38% of support (O’Malley 46%)

I suggest that low support is because Ehrlich hasn’t defined O’Malley yet. He hasn’t even started.

Now this poll shows O’Malley leading by 8%. Previously O’Malley let by 15%. As Dave pointed out. In a previous Sun poll O’Malley was 48% and Ehrlich was 33%.

This spells huge trouble for O’Malley.

O’Malley is down 2 points. Ehrlich is up 5 points.

Why is this big trouble for O’Malley? Because O’Malley has been trying to define Ehrlich for 2 months and now we know it isn’t working. The exact opposite of what O’Malley has been trying to accomplish is happening (just like everything else he touches). O’Malley took him to court on the BGE deal, stopped Ehrlich from taking over troubled schools, he is getting hit over the head with UTech, crime statistics… Maybe a cynic out their believe that Ehrlich is behind all this bad news – but that is all it would be – cynical. The fact is O’Malley has too many chinks in his own armour to effect Ehrlich.

“…the poll was conducted too soon after the selection of Mrs. Cox to gauge whether the governor received a bounce with women from the pick. However, Mr. O’Malley’s lead among female voters has decreased to 11 percentage points, from 21 points in November.”

O’Malley’s appeal to women voters has been highlighted as a key to O’Malley’s bid for Government House. If Kristen Cox begins to register positive numbers for Ehrlich then this important block of voters could swing the vote to Ehrlich.

The importance of Howard County in this election is not lost either…

“Baltimore County and Howard County are emerging as battlegrounds.”

Wait until the Guv starts to define O’Malley. Dave, you won’t have to worry. I will bet you next time I see you that Baltimore County will go Ehrlich.

Maybe a lot more of Duncan’s supporters have swung to Ehrlich than they did to O’Malley. If they were solid democrats then Ehrlich would not have closed the gap by 7 points.

I participated in the River Hill July 4th parade as a volunteer for Bob Ehrlich. I was a little torn because I thought people would be coming out of the wood work to help and that our local candidates would be needing help. Even though I volunteered for Ehrlich I was ready to jump ship to any local candidate that might need some more bodies.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that our local candidates all had more volunteers than they needed. Most, but not all, of the Democratic candidates were in similiar shape.